Four years after making the decision to leave his home town behind, all of Declan Reede’s dreams have come true. Unapologetically foul-mouthed and well known for his off-track antics, his success seems unstoppable. At least until Queensland Raceway and a chance sighting of the girl who once held his heart. Now, getting around the track seems an impossible battle as he struggles to return to his previous form. With his career racing downhill faster than his V8 on Mount Panorama, there’s more than just his reputation on the line.

What will it take to put the brakes on his decline?

**Due to strong language and sexual content not intended for anyone under age of 18**

Decline truly is a story of a man in decline. What I really love about this book, and so far, the whole Declan Reede story, is that it’s about a flawed character who doesn’t miraculously redeem himself just because of some actions in the storyline.

There are so many little story lines in this book, but I can’t tell you any of them because they will spoil the whole book. Declan does a good job of stuffing things up over and over again. If you’re anything like me, you’ll want to yell at him for being such a self-destructive a-hole! Of course, if he wasn’t then there’d be no Decline. His love for Alyssa is evident in his reactions and destructive behaviour. It’s a love that comes along once in a lifetime. Can he manage to heal it and keep the fractured love he’s created?

This story is intriguing and full of drama. It’s a lot less on the actual race car driving, and a lot more of the relationship and personal dramas of the main characters. Michelle Irwin has a real knack for writing the contemporary world, and I am really enjoying her words.

I don’t feel like there’s any resolution in the story, but there certainly is movement in the storyline that creates a great installment to the Declan Reede series. I can’t wait to keep reading!

EXCERPT

Eden had been right about the track. By the ninth lap
of my second stint, the bitumen was bone dry and the teams that had gambled on
the rain staying were scrambling to the pits to change back onto slicks. I used the time to push even further ahead. Eden’ s voice squawked over the radio, telling me that I had just achieved the fastest lap time of the day. If I
didn’t have to keep both hands on the wheel, I would have given a fist pump in celebration. Things were finally going my way.

I was celebrating the small victories when I came across the top of the mountain again, across Skyline. The glare from the sun reflected in the top corner of my windscreen and I was blinded. Not by the light, but by the vision which the sun called to mind.

Alyssa.

My heart stopped and my eyes slammed closed.

Smiles and laughs; the sun glinting off her watch as we kept an eye on the time.

I could almost hear her voice bouncing around the car, laughing over some ridiculous shit we’d done during the day. We’d been so happy. So innocent. So fucking naive and stupid.

The memory was from one of the days we’d ditched school to hide out in our park. With a gasp, I swallowed oxygen down into protesting lungs. My hands shook and tremors raced through my fingers and into the wheel.

My stomach clenched as I remembered just how beautiful
she’d been. She didn’t have supermodel looks, she had something better. An honest to goodness girl-next-door quality that shone through from within and made her ten times sexier than any over glossed supermodel could ever be. The truth was, as bad as the visions of Alyssa’s red-rimmed eyes were, the happy ones were worse. They became tangible reminders of how much she’d once meant to me, and I almost didn’t want to suppress them.

With two more gulping breaths, I forced my eyes open and pushed the thought away. My grip tightened on the steering wheel, but it was already too late.

Though it’d been mere seconds, I’d been in my own world, my past for too long and hadn’t prepared to take the turn before falling into the Esses. I had no time to do anything but adjust the angle of my car as it smashed into the concrete barrier with a teeth-rattling bang. I prepared myself in the only way I could for a second crash as the car ricocheted off the wall, spun across the track, and then smashed into the side of a passing car. The sound of crunching metal and squealing rubber filled the space around me, but I could do nothing but hold on and hope for the best. My car lurched sickeningly toward the wall again, shunting hard into the concrete and rocking me into the hard surface of the door.

By the time I came to a rest, I was angled nose into the wall in a stationary car.

Unable to move, I panted as I struggled to comprehend just what had happened, aside from the fact that I’d crashed, that part I got loud and fucking clear. Closing my eyes, I mentally ran through my body to ensure I wasn’t too badly injured. I wiggled my fingers and my toes and was
relieved when everything did what it was supposed to. Except for my heart racing at a million miles a minute, and the fact that I couldn’t breathe down nearly enough air to stay in control, I was okay.

My eyes snapped to the rear-view mirror when I heard the sound of protesting tyres.

AUTHOR BIO

Michelle Irwin has been many things in her life: a hobbit taking a precious item to a fiery mountain; a young child stepping through the back of a wardrobe into another land; the last human stranded not-quite-alone in space three million years in the future; a young girl willing to fight for the love of a vampire; and a time-travelling madman in a box. She achieved all of these feats and many more through her voracious reading habit. Eventually, so much reading had to have an effect and the cast of characters inside her mind took over and spilled out onto the page.Michelle lives in sunny Queensland in the land down under with her surprisingly patient husband and ever-intriguing daughter, carving out precious moments of writing and reading time around her accounts-based day job. A lover of love and overcoming the odds, she primarily writes paranormal and fantasy romance.

From an early age, Declan Reede’s only goal was to race in the ProV8 Championship Series. One thing he couldn’t anticipate was that a blistering kiss shared with his best friend, Alyssa Dawson, might derail his plans.

While he knows things between them will never be the same, it’s impossible to predict just where the road will take them, or how rocky it might get.

Congratulations to Michelle on the Cover Reveal! I’ve had the pleasure of reading this novella, so without further ado….

I have previously read Michelle’s early work, Through The Fire, a paranormal fantasy revolving around lots of magic and action. Knowing how much I enjoyed her style of writing, and seeing her dive into the Contemporary Romance world, I was highly anticipating the release of this book! I knew it would have to be different, because she was playing with different worlds now. The contemporary world is a lot less forgiving than the paranormal fantasy worlds an author can create.

Well, I don’t know how Michelle Irwin has done it, but she has managed to get in the head of a teenage boy and capture his essence with ease! This book is a fantastic base to what is to come in this series. The story revolves around Declan and Alyssa. These kids are lifelong best friends who were always there for each other. That was until they decided to take it to the next level. Declan has wanted to be a V8 race car driver all his life. Unfortunately for him, his best friend, and now girlfriend, finds it boring. Conflict ensues, but not in a way you would think. It’s a subtle conflict that is executed in the perfect teen way. There isn’t any technical jargon that would confuse you, so if you’re not familiar with racing, it’s okay, you’ll still get it. Irwin has captured first loves, first times, first losses, and building a future, in such a fantastic way. So much so that I can’t wait to grab the next book to see where things go.

This is a must read before you pick up the first book in the series.

As a side note: I loved the fact that it was based in Australia. It has me laughing at some of the terms used, the glossary at the front of the book will get you sorted in case you have any questions of the strange words she uses!

This one doesn’t come out until the end of August, so be sure to pre-order for a bargain price of .99c.

Author Bio:

Michelle Irwin has been many things in her life: a hobbit taking a precious item to a fiery mountain; a young child stepping through the back of a wardrobe into another land; the last human stranded not-quite-alone in space three million years in the future; a young girl willing to fight for the love of a vampire; and a time-travelling madman in a box. She achieved all of these feats and many more through her voracious reading habit. Eventually, so much reading had to have an effect and the cast of characters inside her mind took over and spilled out onto the page.

Michelle lives in sunny Queensland in the land down under with her surprisingly patient husband and ever-intriguing daughter, carving out precious moments of writing and reading time around her accounts-based day job. A lover of love and overcoming the odds, she primarily writes paranormal and fantasy romance.